Pulse
Premium position: standout service
By William - 24 February 2020
Ahead of the CasinoBeats Malta event taking place next month, G3 quizzes Jeremy Taylor, Managing Director of Genting Online, about the topics he’ll be covering in the Live Casino Track.
The live casino session of the CasinoBeats Malta event delves deep into a range of topics that affect this specific sector. Particular interest, however, will focus on the best way to champion responsible gaming. With a heavy reliance on VIP players, how can live casino strike the right balance between striving for revenues and, at the same time, champion responsible gaming?
The Genting brand has built a reputation for providing a premium level of service and experience across all of our products, and as a result we do attract a certain level of player who expects a certain level of service. Just look at our land-based estate.
We own and operate some of the most exclusive casinos in the world and therefore our experience and reputation for catering for VIPs is well known.
The approach we take online isn’t about actively targeting more people to add to our VIP programme. Rather, we aim to provide a stand- out service and a premium experience. As a result of that we hope that players choose to play more with us as opposed to with any of our competitors, and so our VIP strategy is very much focused on increasing market share and retaining loyalty.
It’s about providing an additional layer of service, some very personal touches, additional and exclusive access… anything that enhances the premium positioning of our offer and the customer experience.
As with everything at Genting, responsible gaming is absolutely front and centre when it comes to how we operate our VIP programme. It isn’t simply about checking affordability and ensuring players play within their means – which of course we do – but is about setting up the entire model with responsibility in mind. It happens to make good business sense too. Genting don’t want to attract players chasing bonuses and freebies.
With our premium position in the market place, our objective is to provide the very best product and customer experience to win a greater market share and to ensure gamers choose to play with us over and above any of our competition. With all this in mind, we aim to grow our live casino revenues through Brand and Product experience/innovation with social responsibility engrained throughout.
Do players like or want bonuses in live casino? Why is there little reward in the live experience?
Our approach to live casino is about providing a really premium experience. We are in a unique position in the market place in terms of our ability to leverage Genting’s world class land- based estate and our ambition is to merge the physical and digital experience as fully as possible in a really immersive experience. We are taking steps all the time to improve and refine our live casino product, and our focus is very much on providing a premium offer. The fact that we have recently launched Roulette Live From Crockfords – one of the most prestigious gaming venues anywhere in the world – is a clear example of that.
It would therefore be at odds with this strategy to be looking to entice players with bonuses and added rewards. The incentive to play with us is absolutely because of the stand-out service and experience we provide. That being said, there is an expectation around certain incentives and we will continue to offer them where appropriate but it will not be our main focus.
How do you cross sell slots players into live casino?
One of Genting’s USPs is the variety of our product offering. We have a global land-based presence – from Malaysia, Singapore and Egypt to the Bahamas, New York and Las Vegas – plus a diverse product range online encompassing casino and slots games, live casino and a comprehensive sportsbook. Therefore our ability to cross sell certain elements of our business in to other areas is significant, whether that be via our website, CRM, across our social channels, in casino, etc. We do it where relevant and appropriate though. We understand our customers don’t want to be bombarded with cross promo messaging, but equally they appreciate being made aware of products relevant to them. We take quite a personalised approach to this and will communicate with our customers on topics relevant to them and in the format they find most convenient.
With the lines between product offerings blurring, should the sector revisit concepts to gain new relevance with changing player needs and emerging technologies?
Firstly I think it’s worth clarifying that of course we are an operator not a supplier or developer, and so to a certain extent we are at the mercy of our suppliers on this one. Having said that, of course we are always looking for new innovations in the sector and will work with those suppliers who are able to provide those innovative experiences if we believe they enhance player choice and enjoyability.
Any innovation that does, as you say, cater for changing player needs is something we would be interested in and emerging technologies are making some new and exciting things possible for sure. Lightning Roulette is the obvious example where a traditional casino game has been turned in to a higher energy experience and player feedback on that product has been good. So we’d absolutely be open to looking at other new concepts similar to this.
